osborni
osborni antenna
osborni head
osborni metathorax
osborni metathorax lateral seta
osborni prosternites
osborni pronotum

Generic diagnosis

Light brown, usually macropterous Phlaeothripinae with one pair of long capitate setae ventrolaterally on metathorax. Head without (sometimes with) reticulate sculpture, slightly produced in front of eyes; genae weakly constricted behind rounded eyes; postocular setae long and capitate; maxillary stylets wide apart, retracted into head mid-way to (or almost to) postocular setae; mouth cone short and broadly rounded. Antennae 8-segmented, III with 3 (rarely 2) sense cones, IV with 4 (rarely 3) sense cones. Pronotum with 4 pairs of long, often capitate, major setae; anteromarginal pair minute; notopleural sutures complete. Mesonotal lateral setae small; metanotum without sculpture medially, median setae small and acute. Prosternal basantra well developed; ferna large and meeting medially; mesopresternum transverse; sternopleural sutures absent. Meso and metathorax ventrolaterally each with a pair of long, asymmetrical, capitate setae. Fore tarsal tooth absent. Fore wing not constricted medially; without duplicated cilia. Pelta usually small and D-shaped; tergites each with 2 pairs of weakly sigmoid wing-retaining setae; tergite IX of female with setae about as long as tube, S1 and S2 weakly capitate. Male sternite IX usually with large pore plate.

Nomenclatural data

Tylothrips Hood, 1937: 494. Type species Tylothrips concolor Hood, 1937, by monotypy.

There are 22 species listed in this genus (Mound 1977; ThripsWiki, 2021), with all but one known only from the Neotropics.

Australian species
Tylothrips osborni (Hinds, 1902; 203)

Relationship data

This genus is a member of a group of genera comprising fungus-feeding species that live in leaf-litter. Most species in these genera are known from the Neotropics (Mound 1977), and at one time the genus-group was referred to as the Phlaeothripinae-Glyptothripini.

Distribution data

Tylothrips species are known only from the Neotropics, apart from T. osborni that has been found naturally between Trinidad and eastern North America. However, a few specimens of osborni have been recorded from Europe, presumably inadvertently introduced (Yigi et al. 2021), and one female has been seen from Brisbane, Queensland (Mound & Tree 2022).

Biological data

Members of this genus are presumed to be fungus-feeders in leaf-litter.

References

Mound LA (1977) Species diversity and the systematics of some New World leaf-litter Thysanoptera (Phlaeothripinae; Glyptothripini). Systematic Entomology 2: 225-244.

Mound LA & Tree DJ (2022). Thysanoptera Diversity in Australia, with three new generic records and two new species. Zootaxa 5104 (2): 291-296.

Yigi AU, Demirözer O, Minaei K & Mound LA (2021) Disjunct distribution or recent introduction? The North American Tylothrips osborni in Turkey (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripidae) Journal of Insect Biodiversity and Systematics 07 (4): 375–381.